‘Don’t punish us for your tardiness!’ – VG Resident to W&SD
This issue was first brought to the attention of this news site on Friday September 19, 2014. We have been making several calls to the Department for a response to the allegations made but to no avail. Director Mrs. Perline Scatliffe-Leonard did not respond to our calls.
The complaints were many from persons in Virgin Gorda. “First and foremost, Water and Sewage need to get their office on VG organized before they come and blindly disconnecting people’s water supply. They have an office here but it’s very out of order. They send teams from Tortola to come cut our waters and they even cut their own staff water and didn’t care,” said one resident Ms. O’Neal.
Their concerns were universal as almost everyone this news site spoke to had the same complaints. They said that their problem had nothing to do with them being unable to pay their bills on time but it was solely an issue of the W&S Department not issuing or preparing their bills in a timely manner.
“I for one would go to the office both here on VG and Tortola and I can never get an accurate bill, mind you I shouldn’t have to leave Virgin Gorda, pay ferry money to go all the way to Baugher’s Bay for a water bill, that’s not right, not right,” exclaimed one woman.
She further explained that it would take several months, sometime as long as four months before residents could receive a bill which reflects arrears for that full period. “Then they coming and cut you off without notice, without explanation or negotiation,” she said.
Another resident said that when she realized what was going on she went into the office in Tortola and pleaded her case as she has not been receiving bills and had offered to pay in parts to satisfy the arrears. “You know what those people had the gall to tell me? They had no feeling telling me even if I don’t get a bill is my responsibility to come to the office and pay. They have an office that is in a mess in VG and telling I must go all the way to Tortola and pay and pay for what I don’t know the bill,” she said.
Others complained that apart from the problem of having their water cut on a mass scale, the quality of the water they receive through their taps leaves much to be desired. “The quality of water we getting here is atrocious, it’s discoloured a lot of time and all sorts of things are in it. You want us to stretch and meet you well give us the quality we deserve, give us value for our dollar,” the woman said.
There were reports of the water supply to at least three seniors were also cut, however this could not have been verified by this news site as we were not able to reach any of the alleged affected seniors. “I telling you my grandmother’s water was cut too, woman in her late 70’s I telling you, her water was cut, and I know for sure of at least two others in the same mess. This in make sense,” said an obviously distraught woman who gave her name only as Mel.
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34 Responses to “‘Don’t punish us for your tardiness!’ – VG Resident to W&SD”
ok Scandal T..na. why do you want to be a part of bringing down your department. When you are one of the slackess working who give the customers incorrect information that causes the Supervisors to get the blame and work extremely hard to correct your hugh mistakes
Additionally, try to up lift your co-workers instead of trying to bring them down. Your senseless comment reflects bad on you. It proves that you are not a team player and probabbly only working there for a pay check.
My advise to you is if you are not happy working there with the Directors "friends and family" as you have stated, then move on so that they can hire people who want to see the company move forward. Oh, but then again, you you seem not to be a team player.
I am in agreement though that the system needs to be up dated. And it is not just last week that we as customers know this. But until then, if we are using water we know we have to pay for it.
We use the water, yet refuse to visit or call the office to check on our accounts. Every month, wether or not some of us recieve electricity bills, we are in the lines to pay before we are disconnected. Why not do the same for our water bills? We meet other financial obligations, but not our water bills as it would seem that disconnections are not carried out on VG or only selected persons are disconnected.
I commend the Tortola officers for a job well done. I also commend you guys for your professionalism. Yall took "Hard Words" and maintained calm and professional. You should continue to come until every last account is up to currant. We complain that water is off too often, yet will not pay our bills so the money can be turned over to maintain our water system. VG residents, lets pay our bills on time. And do not feel like it is VG alone this was done. I did some research and placed some calls, it was done on all the islands so stop thinking that the VG office was targeted.
Here we go again. Departments filled with incompetence! You telling me it takes us years to get a proper monitoring system in place up at WSD? Bullsh.t!
Additionally, the article mentioned of 3 seniors being disconnected. I am sure that these seniors have family living with them who should be taking care of their bills. If not, i suggest that, since you know who the seniors are, to use your efforts and report such to the socila development office so that something can is done about this. Just my 2 cents.
I have not been to electricity office for the past year. Every first Sunday of the month I get a cold beer sit at my computer and pay my electricity bill. Easy as one two three. Get with the times.